Four Years Since Matanzas Supertanker Base Fire: 17 Dead, No Accountability, and a Mother Still Seeking Justice

This Wednesday marks the four-year anniversary of one of the most catastrophic industrial disasters in Cuban history: the fire that ravaged the Matanzas Supertanker Base on August 5, 2022. The tragedy claimed 17 lives, injured over 130 people, and caused material losses estimated at $66 million.

The disaster began on a fateful Friday evening when a lightning strike set ablaze a fuel depot in the Industrial Zone of Matanzas Bay. The fire quickly spread to four of the eight supertankers, burning ferociously for six days.

The deadliest moment occurred in the early hours of August 6, when a second tank exploded as firefighters and support staff struggled to cool it down.

Fourteen individuals vanished in the explosion, consumed by temperatures soaring between 1,000 and 2,000 degrees Celsius.

Forensic experts recovered 754 bone fragments, assembling them into 14 groups. However, Dr. Jorge González Pérez stated emphatically, "We couldn't achieve absolute identification of the remains found."

The regime released the names of the 14 missing individuals on August 18, 2022, but withheld their ages. Among them were four young men serving their compulsory military duty: Leo Alejandro Doval Pérez de Prado, Fabián Naranjo Núñez, Michel Rodríguez Román, and Adriano Rodríguez Gutiérrez, aged between 19 and 20.

Leo Doval was just 19, with only 15 days of firefighting training. He dreamed of studying medicine to become a neurosurgeon and already had his uniform ready for his first day at Medical Sciences.

His mother, Vivianne Pérez Prado, emerged as one of the most poignant voices in the aftermath of the tragedy. "The greatest pain in this world is losing a child, not giving birth. The greatest pain is burying his body, which I couldn't even do," she wrote on Facebook months later.

In another post, she mourned her son’s unfulfilled dreams: "How do I continue without seeing all your plans come to fruition, when you already knew how you'd go on your first day to Medical Sciences to become a Doctor and a great Neurosurgeon?"

The young man's grandmother posed a question that remains unanswered by the regime: "Who will take responsibility for sending those kids there?"

The first two confirmed deaths were those of Juan Carlos Santana Garrido, a 60-year-old firefighter from Cienfuegos, and Elier Manuel Correa Aguilar, a 24-year-old professional firefighter who died in the hospital from "burns incompatible with life."

On October 3, 2022, Omar Ravelo, a 63-year-old tanker driver, also passed away, never leaving Havana's Calixto García Hospital, raising the official death toll to 17.

Four years later, the regime has neither held anyone accountable nor released a conclusive report on the incident's causes. Annual commemorations involve roll calls, sirens, and floral tributes, but they fall short of addressing culpability.

Lack of transparency has been a hallmark from day one. YouTuber Duanys Moreno, who broadcast the fire in real-time, was detained by State Security on August 9, 2022.

"I was kidnapped by Major Muñiz, head of Counterintelligence in Matanzas. They threatened me, and a prosecutor demanded 8 years in prison," he recounted after fleeing to Miami. Moreno also accused that the lightning protection system was disconnected at the time of the catastrophe.

While grief lingers, reconstruction is progressing slowly, aided by Chinese brigades. By April 2026, CUPET reported that one of the four new tanks was nearing completion of welding and painting, yet there are no definitive timelines for restoring the lost 200,000 cubic meters of capacity.

Vivianne Pérez Prado continues to honor her son on social media. Her anguish encapsulates the pain of numerous Cuban families who lost loved ones in a tragedy that the regime prefers to honor with flowers rather than explain with truths.